City approves having RAGBRAI 2018 pass through Nevada

Nevada will be a “pass-through” community when the thousands of riders taking part in the 2018 RAGBRAI roll across the state this coming July.

City Administrator Matt Mardesen said that after spending the night in Ames, the riders will come through Nevada the morning of Wednesday, July 25.

Mardesen said Nevada would have loved to be an overnight host, but the city didn’t meet all the specifications that are needed for that. So instead, it will be like it was in 2008, when riders left Ames in the morning and made their way through Nevada.

Shawn Cole, building and zoning official for Nevada, was co-chair of the RAGBRAI committee in 2008 and has already offered to serve on the committee again this year. Cole said most of the riders would go through from 8 to 11 a.m., with some hitting the road earlier and some later. While Nevada had a number of vendors during the 2008 ride, Cole said he heard disappointment from some that more riders didn’t stop, but said because it’s so early, many just want to get through town and be on the road.

Still, it was fun last time the riders came through. Shawn said even though there is some inconvenience, because Lincoln Highway has to be shut down for awhile, “hopefully people will enjoy seeing it; it’s the longest running, oldest ride in the world,” he said.

City Council was in favor of passing an agreement to allow the ride to go through Nevada. Watch for more details about the big morning as the committee shares them.

Also happening at Monday’s meeting was the council’s approval of an intergovernmental 28E agreement for combined law enforcement operations. Director of Public Safety Ric Martinez said this goes back to October of 2016, when a domestic assault case in Nevada, involving a Nevada police officer, took place. Ames Police were contacted to investigate, but Ames couldn’t stay on the case, because there was no 28E agreement in place, so the Story County Sheriff’s Office had to take over.

Martinez, in a report he wrote for the council, said that since that time, there have been discussions between all the law enforcement agencies in the county to create a 28E agreement to assist each other in times of crisis. The other agencies going to their governing boards to have approval of this agreement are: Story County Sheriff’s Office, Story County Conservation Public Safety, Iowa State University Public Safety and the police departments in the cities of Ames, Huxley, Story City and Nevada.

Councilman Jason Sampson asked if this agreement means that other agencies have the right to come in and be part of investigations and law enforcement any time they want, or does each agency need to request another agencies help?

Martinez said, “I would have to request it, outside of emergencies (where there is a crisis significant enough that others would just come in quickly to help.)”

Other quick takes from

Monday’s Nevada

City Council meeting:

• Nevada Public Safety officer Chris Brandes was sworn in as a sergeant for the Nevada PD (as Sgt. Tracy Schmidt leaves the department this Friday); and Josie Bailey, Nevada’s Community Service Officer, who will become a full-time police officer with the department this August, was sworn in as a probationary member of the Nevada Fire & Rescue. See a Facebook live video of their introductions and swearing in on the Nevada Journal Facebook page.

• City Administrator Matt Mardesen and Mayor Brett Barker both attended a meeting with the Nevada Historical Society to talk about a sign that will be made for Hattery-Walker Park at the north side of Nevada.

• Mayor Barker said the city is working to organize a forum about opioid awareness for the community. Watch for an announcement of that date.

• Mayor Barker gave a shout-out to the Nevada Jaycees organization, saying he recently made a visit to the group to celebrate the many honors and awards they’ve received for this past year, including being named the “Top Chapter in the State.”

• Library Director Shanna Speer announced that the library has many events coming up during spring break, including some activities that promote the areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). One activity, she said, will be a zombie apocalypse escape activity and kids need to sign up ahead of time for that one, which will be the Thursday of spring break week.

Speer also said the library has created a survey for all members of the community to fill out that will help them to determine what the library needs to do in the future. The survey is so important to them that they are entering everyone who completes it and signs it into a drawing for two Kindle Fire 8s and a $50 gift card, as prizes. The survey is going to be coming out in the water bills, and is also available online at: www.surveymonkey.com/r/NevadaLibrary, through the library website and by walking into the library and receiving a printed copy. Something to note though, only the people who want to enter their contact information will be entered in the drawing. You can still fill out the survey and not enter your contact information; you just won’t be in the drawing if you don’t.

• Public Works Director Mike Neal said the ice storms have used up a lot of the ice treatment product for the city and for all road crews far and wide. He said Nevada’s supply is “critically low,” and they’ve ordered more that they are hoping to get. The best thing would be for there to be no more ice, of course.

Neal was asked about potholes, and he said his crews have been out doing some patching of those already, and will do more as the weather improves.

Councilman Jason Sampson complimented the work of the street crew this year on keeping the roads cleaned after all the snow and/or ice events.

• Fire Chief Ray Reynolds said that in the aftermath of the school shooting in Florida, there has been a rush to consider all types of things to keep kids safe. Some of those things include various options for locking kids in rooms and schools. Reynolds said many fire professionals have been concerned about things that are being considered, because some of them would impede fire safety measures. “Last year, there were 150,000 responses to schools on fire threats,” he said, so it’s important to make sure that fire safety rules are followed, too.